Through the Looking Glass: What ESL Teachers Can Find in - Eric

Through the Looking Glass: What ESLTeachers Can Find in Russian-PublishedReference Books

Dina Chipouline

The purpose of this article was to research the cultural content of Russian-published English reference literature. Paradoxically, in trying to create the learningmaterials for the students ofEnglish, the authors ofthese texts focus on the valuesinherent in their own culture. Ethnocentrism and ahigh degree ofgeneralizationsabout local values are reflected in the seemingly dry 1-2-sentence texts used forthe study. The goal of the present research is not to give "modern recommendations" to non-English-speaking authors on how to write textbooks for students intheir countries; rather, the intention is to help Canadian teachers working withthe ESL learners to become more aware of the experiences, expectations, andviews their students may bring to the classroom.

Le but de cette recherche etait d'etudier Ie contenu culturel de manuels dereference de langue anglaise publies en russe. Un paradoxe transparaft dans latentative de la part des auteurs qui voulaient creer du materiel pedagogique pourles etudiants d'anglais car leurs manuels refletent les valeurs de leur propreculture. En effet, les courts textes composes d'une ou deux phrases apparemmentinsipides qui ont fait l'objet de cette etude, temoignent d'ethnocentrisme et d'unrecours frequent aux generalisations sur les valeurs locales. Le but de l'articlen'est pas de presenter des "recommandations modernes" aux auteurs allophonesqui ecrivent des manuels pour les etudiants de leur pays, mais plut8t de conscientiser les enseignants canadiens en ALS quant aux experiences, aux attentes etaux points de vue que leurs etudiants apportent avec eux en classe.

I'll tell you all my ideas about Looking-glass House. First, there's theroom you can see through the glass-that's just the same as our drawing room, only the things go the other way ... Well, then, the books aresomething like our books, only the words go the wrong way. (Carroll,1972, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, chap I).

IntroductionThe historic changes that began in the world in the late 1980s and resulted inthe fall of the Iron Curtain influenced the profile of ESL students in Canada.A significant number of learners whose mother tongue was Russian ap-

TESL CANADA JOURNAUREVUE TESL DU CANADAVOL. 19, NO.1, WINTER 2001

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peared in ESL classes. They were either immigrants, wealthy members of thenew Russian elite, or beneficiaries of various organizations such as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). These students are usuallywell educated, with some knowledge of English, yet they have never had tofunction in a multicultural environment before coming to Canada. For thisreason some present particular challenges to their teachers. Their expectations of the program, their view of the rationale of cooperating with otherlearners, and their idea of the appropriateness of some teaching methods oreven the teacher's behavior frequently cause classroom conflicts, large andsmall. Many of the Russian-speaking students have brought with themEnglish reference books published in Russia. They use these books both inclass and at home, obviously trusting them as a linguistic lifejacket when theunilingual grammar texts or dictionaries do not provide them with neededexplanations. Analysis of the hidden cultural messages in the content ofthese texts may provide some clues as to the opinions, behavior, and perspectives of Russian students in Canadian ESL classes. The findings may beof interest to any teacher who works with a multicultural class and faces thechallenge of creating an environment that is comfortable for students ofdifferent backgrounds, including Russian. The starting point of the process isto gain knowledge about a particular culture and how it is represented intexts published around the world. As Powell (1997) states,

the pluralistic focus, which requires us to accommodate for diversity inthe education process, from the standpoint of a culture other than one'sown, means accepting as valid the culturally different learners' values,their motives, the rewards that are meaningful to them, their locus ofcontrol, their linguistic system, their learning style and their cognitivestyle. (p. 14)

The present research is intended to benefit educators who are looking forways to create culturally sensitive environments to help their students become better learners and successful members of their communities.

Background of the StudyHaving taught English as a foreign language (EFL) in a Russian universityfor eight years and English as a second language (ESL) in a college in Canadafor six years, I have had the opportunity to work with both mono- andmulticultural classes using materials published in the Soviet Union, Russia,the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. Aside from grammar rules,vocabulary, and pronunciation models, I have struggled to understand thedeep messages hidden in the English-language books. It seems to me thatbehind those simple texts and grammar explanations lies somethingmysterious, fascinating, and amazingly different-the soul of another nation.This has made me look for and decipher the masked declarations about

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culture found in dry language books, seemingly unrelated to cultural issues.Many Russian-published EFL texts appeared to be a battlefield of politicaldoctrines, containing generalizations about morality, values, and lifestylesand uncompromising comparisons of native and other cultures with theinevitable subsequent quest for identity. Interestingly, although Russianpublished English reference literature includes descriptions of British orAmerican culture, it is much more focused on the images of Russian culture,as if the authors, looking in the mirror of another language, see themselves.Thus my deeply rooted feeling of being bilingual, bicultural, and essentially"bipersonal" has resulted in a fascinating journey into the vast spaces ofethnography and semantics.

ProcedureThe present research is on "the borders," as it is rooted in different, thoughconnected, fields of knowledge: ethnography and linguistics (sociolinguisticsand semantics in particular). This study is based on one- to two-sentencetexts, usually intended to illustrate grammar phenomena or the usage ofspecific vocabulary in Russian-published reference literature. These shorttexts employ a high level of generalization, thus giving "perfect" examples ofthe "common truth" adopted as a norm in a particular society. The genuinecharacter of these cultural generalizations is in the fact that the authors of thereference books are preoccupied with mainly linguistic explanations; therefore, they use the sentences that best illustrate their point and pay little if anyattention to the cultural messages issuing from their examples. Althoughmany of the sentences are characterized by overt ethnocentrism and traditional conformity, it is precisely these characteristics that make their analysisengaging.

Nine Russian-published English reference books published in 1983, 1990,1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 and all intended for intermediate and advancedlevels were included in the research (see Appendix). The books hold anabundance of sentences that can be found in any didactic text around theworld; however, these sentences do not serve as the material for my study.Rather, I concentrated on the statements that stood out because they wouldbe difficult to imagine in Canadian school textbooks. The sentences that Isingled out contain cultural messages contrary to those accepted as politically correct in Canadian society. The ideas expressed in these sentences arealmost never vocalized in the classroom environment, let alone published ineducational sources. I grouped the selected sentences into content areas:ethical concepts, ideological and political postulates, economic and geopolitical issues, and gender differences and sexism. I also separated theexamples talking about us (i.e., related to Russian culture) from those talkingabout them (i.e., English-speaking cultures). I did not change the analyzed


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sentences even if they were erroneous in their grammar, style, morphology,or spelling.

Because the selected texts were available to me through my students (whowere using them out of personal choice), they are not a representative set ofall reference literature published in the Soviet Union and Russia. Also, theremay be some imprecision in terms of what is observed and how it is interpreted. However, no research of any culture is absolute or comprehensive.

Results and Discussion

The Russian PerspectiveThe Russian culture has always been known for its polysemantics. "Themysterious Russian soul," as seen from the Western viewpoint, has symbolized the pattern of thinking and behavior principally different from bothEuropean and Asian standards. The specificity of the Russian model hasbeen determined by the ambivalent place Russia occupies in the worldphysically and spiritually. The idea of dualism permeates Russian geography, history, and psyche. This is what Pitcher (1964) called

two strains in popular Russian behavior. One strain, derived largelyfrom Christianity and the idea of submitting to the will of God, was"collective" and "submissive"; the other, derived from the peasants' freeand mobile life and from the conflicting elements within the peasantpopulation, was "independent" and "self-assertive." (p. 184)

Collectivism is inherent in Russian culture, springing from both the com-munal spirit of Russian Orthodoxy ("we suffer together") and the distinctiveorganization of the agricultural commune mir. Mir was a prototype of theprimitive communist structure where leveling through common taxation,regulated distribution of land, and collective help to the underprivilegedpeasants had always impeded the participants' individualism. Generally, theold Russian tradition presupposed that "individual rights were sacrificed tostate imperatives" (Paramonov, 1996, p. 17).

Sentences from Russian grammar books such as "You should not despisepeople less fortunate than you" (Shakh-Nazarova, 1995, p. 111) or "Theyoung man helped his friends in trouble and in this way showed to everybody what was the right thing to do" (Bonk, Kotii, & Loukianova, 1994b, p.68) demonstrate that collectivism, when projected onto the system of moralvalues, gives rise to the dictate of group ties, reciprocity, and equality overthe individual. In the second example, the "young man" finds it importantnot only to help a member of the group, but also to have his action morallyvalidated by the rest. In "The honor of our country is very dear to us"(Kachalova & Izrailevich, 1995, p. 42), another form of collective identifica-

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tion, this time with the nation at large, finds its reflection in the concept ofRussian patriotism.

However, collectivism has not been the only formative element of Russian culture. As Pitcher (1964) stresses, "within the peasant commune ... thedualism was accentuated: collectivism was infested by the need to live closertogether, while the independent strain found a satisfactory outlet in theconspiracy against the outside world" (p. 184). Fighting the outside worldhas played an important role in shaping the Russian soul. Not only thenecessity of combating the unfriendly environment with its vast spaces andcold climate, but also the urge to challenge the Mongol yoke and later theburden of serfdom has turned Russians into a people who do not trust thegovernment, but nevertheless submit to its inevitability and arbitrariness. Ona personallevet Russian self-assertiveness would manifest in "indirect resistance to the authority" (Pitcher, 1964, p. 186), which may take a form of

a refusal to take authority seriously or to respect it, of evading as muchof the social responsibility, and breaking as many of the rules and conventions as one can reasonably get away with; or trying to beat the system by applying to the modem situation the techniques of evasion andself-interest developed by the Russian peasant over the centuries. (p.186)

At a state levet the Russians' self-assertion has risen to "an enduring expansionist instinct" (Blackwilt 1995, p. 3). Russia, with its huge, sparsely populated territory, "sought security through the systematic domination ofadjacent lands, and often nations bordering those lands as well ... It becamecommonplace in Russian strategic thought to imbed the well-being of Russiain concepts of external insecurity and imperial behavior" (p. 3). Thus on anationwide scale, the duality of the Russian mind manifests in the self-identification of every person with the whole body of the Russian people (acommune equal to the country). On the other hand, Russians realize theirself-assertiveness through challenging "the outside authority" of the rest ofthe world. Because the costs of pursuing any form of violence are nowprohibitive, the Russian dare takes the form of megalomaniac competitionwith other countries.

It may be assumed that the invariably cheerful and assertive way inwhich the reference texts published in Soviet times describe Russia is thenatural outcome of the propaganda. Thus a book published in 1983 containsthe following sentences: "Our plants provided with the most modem equipment have raised their output" (Novitskaia & Kouchin, 1983, p. 228), "Ourmachine-building plants have provided our hydroelectric stations withgigantic hydroturbines" (p. 228), "The astrophysical observatory in Armeniahas been provided with excellent Soviet-made instruments" (p. 228),"Numerous engineering problems have been and are further being solved"


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(p. 157), "Exports are now running at a monthly average of twice last year'slevel" (p. 228), and "The Soviet locomotives run many years without anyoverhauling" (p. 286). However, Russian books published after the demise ofthe Communist state also contain numerous sentences presenting Russia as afocus of everything that is physically big, spiritually great, and developmentally outstanding: "The Russian troops displayed such courage whichamazed the whole world" (Kachalova & Izrailevich, 1995, p. 43), "Moscowhas the best underground in the world" (p. 36), "Moscow's theaters are thebest in the world" (p. 22), "Our country is very rich in coal and oil" (p. 45),"The Soviet cosmonauts have established records in conquering outer space"(Shakh-Nazarova, 1995, p. 156), and "The Lenin Library in Moscow is one ofthe famous libraries of the world" (Petrova, 1996, p. 68). The intensity withwhich Russian greatness is presented in school textbooks irrespective of theirpublished date may lead to the conclusion that the idea of Russia's grandeuris not an invention of the propaganda machine of past days, but is a constructdeeply inherent in Russian ethnicity.

Although Russia's global challenge to its potential adversaries may beperceived as rather sinister, its image as that of a peacemaker is repeatedlyemphasized in texts published both before and after the fall of the SovietUnion: "The Soviet Union was, is, and will always remain the bulwark ofpeace" (Novitskaia & Kouchin, 1983, p. 156), "The Soviet Union has demonstrated that its words are never at variance with its deeds, which was often acase with Western countries" (p. 287), "The idea of struggle for peace thatpasses through the book is near and dear to all of us" (Shakh-Nazarova, 1995,p. 144), "The peoples of the world are fighting for peace. We are fighting forthe lasting peace for all the peoples of the world" (Bonk et al., 1994a, p. 57),and "We want to live at peace with other people" (1994b, p. 482). Interestingly, the reference to Soviet policies is found in a text published in 1995: "Thefirm peaceful policy of the Soviet Union makes up peace in the world"(Shakh-Nazarova, 1995, p. 118).

Although some of the analyzed sentences echo traditional Soviet rhetoric,there are signs of new attitudes and practices. For example, a statement, "Idon't think you can go into the church in shorts" (Dubrovin, 1997, p. 300),showing some piety toward religion, would have been unimaginable in atextbook some 15 years earlier. New realities in the form of borrowings fromthe West also signify a new era. A Russian grammar book (titled PracticalCourse of the English Language: The American Variety, Shakh-Nazarova, 1996)offers the following sentences: "At a quarter to seven we have breakfast. Weoften have bacon and eggs, toast and jam and tea or coffee" (p. 115) and"Peter and I always have lunch in the cafeteria. We usually have salad, roastbeef or steak, French fries and a cup of tea or coffee for lunch" (p. 115). Thesetwo sentences present a brilliant example of total cultural confusion typicalof the Russian textbooks of today. Why is a classic English breakfast (bacon

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and eggs, toast, jam) described in a book on American English as a typicalRussian meal? Why do some Russian people have lunch in a cafeteria? Assomeone who grew up in the Russian culture, I can testify that Russians donot have lunch because they eat a full dinner, with soup and the meat dishfor the main course in the middle of the day. Moreover, the Russian languagedoes not even have an indigenous word corresponding to lunch. The inclusion of these phenomena, which are foreign to Russian culture, in schooltextbooks may be considered a manifestation of the old mechanism of identification with an influential group through simple imitation.

Along with mentioning gastronomic novelties not known in Russia before, the description of traditional items, namely, alcoholic beverages, alsofinds its place on the pages of one reference book: "Bottoms up! I'd like todrink to your health!" (Dubrovin, 1997, p. 176), "Have some whisky/Scotch.Whiskey and soda? No, straight (on the rocks)" (p. 25), "Can I have a bottleof vodka?" (p. 27), "I'd like a bottle of champagne" (p. 299), "Three tins ofbeer, please!" (p. 76), "Let's drop into the bar" (p. 10), "Pour yourself somecognac/brandy" (p. 104), "I want a stronger drink" (p. 106), and "I think hewas drunk last night" (p. 217). Used as a means for establishing socialc'onnections and a home remedy for almost any disease imaginable includingeven radiation sickness (Baker, 2001), liquor in Russia is more than a drink.Historically, alcohol has been a shaping element of Russian culture. As Bakerexplains, "It has unravelled the strategies of generals and thwarted the willof czars. It has sent Russian men to early graves. But ... it also links a societystretched across two continents; it serves that part of the Russian soul thatcherishes hospitality, camaraderie, and trust" (p. A4). On the one hand, thefact that the author includes alcohol-related phrases in his book as absolutelyindispensable for Russians traveling abroad emphasizes the importance ofalcohol in the Russian value system. On the other hand, the automatictransfer of one's own values to the foreign environment reflects the author'sassumption that what is important at home will be equally importanteverywhere.

The description of Russian cultural constructs as presented in Russianpublished texts reveals their complex and contradictory nature, combiningsuch seemingly incompatible traits as egalitarianism and almost feudal socialdivisiveness, credulity and suspiciousness of everything alien or merelydifferent, a keen interest in the outer world, and above all sheer confidence ofbeing the greatest, the smartest, the most daring, the most patriotic, and,simply speaking, the best. The analysis of the sentences studied here alsopoints to the cultural chaos in which the authors of Russian reference literature find themselves at present: new concepts that arrived in Russia with thefall of the Iron Curtain mix with the traditional Russian and Soviet patternsand ideas to form an unusual and sometimes inexplicable concoction.


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Gender RolesA sense of identity, and particularly gender identity, is one of the mostimportant elements of personhood. Needless to say, gender intersects withethnicity and culture. The advocates of the"good old approach" to definingmale and female roles in society (including some of the Russian students inmy classes) often suggest that the differences between men and women areprogrammed by nature itself, and not to notice them means to violate thenatural laws. Indeed, even in the relatively emancipated society of NorthAmerica, sex role cliches are pronounced. Boys and men are seen as "aggressive, independent, strong, logical, direct, adventurous, self-confident, ambitious, and not particularly emotional. Girls and women are passive, weak,illogical, indirect, gentle, and very emotional" (Cushner, McClelland, & Safford, 1992, p. 198).

In Russian culture, which is much more patriarchal than North Americanculture, gender stereotypes are so deeply rooted that they are not evenperceived as such by most men and women; rather, they are seen as normaland natural. The first thing that strikes the eye of someone researching theRussian-published reference literature is the fact that females' appearance ismentioned much more frequently than that of males. A Russian text (ShakhNazarova, 1995) advises us of the following: "You shouldn't be put down byher loud dress. The woman has a heart of gold" (p. 135). In this statement, awoman's supposedly inadequate dress and her moral character are perceived as two equally important constructs. The same book asks: "Whatcolor of dress would you advise a girl to wear to set off her fair complexion?"(p. 157). Our counterquestion would be, "Why should she?" Another Russian text (Dubrovin, 1997) also focuses on the descriptions of females' appearance: "She has brown nice eyes" (p. 41), "What a pretty nice little girl!"(p. 52), and"Ann was a lovely and slim girl" (p. 52). Can she be imaginedlovely but not slim? Characteristically, I could not find a single examplerelated to the appearance of a male, handsome or not.

Professions are also described in an explicit and unambiguous manner:she is at most a teacher, whereas he, being well educated, hard-working, andgoal-oriented, occupies all kinds of high positions: "My brother is a chief ofthe expedition" (Kachalova & Izrailevich, 1995, p. 44), "We'll discuss thematter with Comrade Petrov [a male's last name], dean of our faculty" (p.44), "He has been appointed captain of the 5.5. 'Minsk'" (p. 44), and "Theboy's ambition was to become a cosmonaut and travel to distant planetswhen he grew up" (Bonk et al., 1994b, p. 119), whereas "She teaches geography at school" (Kachalova & Izrailevich, p. 42), and "The young womanyou see in the classroom is our English teacher" (Petrova, 1996, p. 96).

The following sentences, which illustrate the use of the present indefinitetense, go together in one exercise: "1. Rose dusts the furniture regularly. 2.James is fond of playing baseball. 3. Martin's hobby is skating. 4. Andrew

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devotes a great deal of time to reading. 5. Ann cooks dinner every day"(Arbekova, 1990, p. 105). As we see, even if males do not engage in intellectual activities, they still work on their personal development rather than dohousehold chores. Generally, the topic of women's obsession with cookingand cleaning overwhelms the textbooks: "My wife is fond of making pancakes" (Dubrovin, 1997, p. 17), "She cooked delicious soup" (p. 19), "She'sbusy doing the housework" (p. 290), "She is a thrifty housewife" (p. 302), and"She's busy tidying up her flat" (p. 78). However, there is some expression ofsympathy with overworked females: "I wonder how Kate manages to followworld events with a family of four on her hands" (Bonk et al., 1994b, p. 324).Again, nowhere in the books studied here could I find a single mention of amale busy with housework.

As distinct from the "weaker" sex, men are always presented as doingsomething significant for the community at large. So what is he busy withwhile she is satisfying her urge for cooking? "He paints in oils" (Dubrovin,1997, p. 117), "He has his own style in painting" (p. 117), "He created anunsurpassed masterpiece" (p. 229), "He's collecting material for his book" (p.117), "He is engaged in politics" (p. 77), and "He studies mathematics/medicine. He studies hard" (p. 78). A sentence "It is unwise to subjugate achild too much because he should gain knowledge in making decisionshimself" (Shakh-Nazarova, 1995, p. 98) unambiguously states the sex of thechild who is supposed to learn the art of decision-making.

Men are seen as responsible and resolute, whereas women are fainthearted, sentimental, dependent, and whining: "He fired a rifle. He shootswell" (Dubrovin, 1997, p. 258), "He is trying to achieve his aim by all possiblemeans" (p. 253), "He turned out to be a very conscientious worker" (p. 59),"He is not only a great scientist but also a wonderful person" (p. 269), and"He is a man of great dignity" (p. 63). On the other hand, "What a noblewoman she is; she works all the time to help others" (Dubrovin, 1997, p. 13),"She took great care of us" (p. 175), "She felt fear for her safety" (p. 258), "Shededicated herself to the family" (p. 190), and "She's an unusually tactful/sympathetic person" (p. 299).

Men are in charge not only in their communities, but also in their families:"He's now the head of our family" (Dubrovin, 1997, p. 41). Women are oftenshown as loving but irrational caregivers: "My wife indulges our childrentoo much and I often fall out with her over bringing them up" (ShakhNazarova, 1995, p. 56). The father appears a strict but wise judge of his"mini-universe"; itis the father's judgment that counts: "1 hope you're not upto any mischief your father would disapprove of" (p. 7).

Russian textbooks often describe men and women as facing irreconcilablecontradictions. Thus "Men say that women like them to make up to them,and women claim the opposite" (Shakh-Nazarova, 1995, p. 118), and "Menoften claim that their children take after them in good points and after their


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wives in bad ones" (p. 176). Some Russian texts express disappointment withher inappropriate conduct: "She used to be a sweet helpless creature. Tobecome a career woman is the last thing I could have expected of her" (p.180). Being weak and charming is seen as normal for a female "creature,"whereas her becoming "a career woman" is presented as surprising andundesirable behavior.

Interesting are the clusters of sentences that reveal the double standard inthe interpretations of identical behavior in women and men. For instance,"She was crying with pain/grief. He could scarcely hold back the tears"(Dubrovin, 1997, p. 176), or "He was on his best behavior. Her behaviorswere very strange" (p. 178). This is how the meaning of the word feature isillustrated by the two consecutive sentences: "She has fine features. That's animportant feature of his political program" (p. 296). In this example, featureas applied to her is a mere physical characteristic, whereas applied to him itrefers to his social activities. Another "pearl" comprises four sentences: "He'sa person of great ability. She's completely lost the ability to control herself.He is a very capable boy. He's capable of working day and night" (p. 251).His ability is associated with competence and power; she lacks both. Even thedescription of how men and women change their facial expressions is not thesame: "He turned red with excitement. She blushed with embarrassmentwhen they started praising her" (p. 106). These examples reflect awidespread phenomenon: societal opinion attaches different value to identical acts of behavior for men and women. As Cushner et al. (1992) point out,in English an aggressive man is perceived as a "go-getter," whereas anaggressive woman is a "bitch." In Russian, a career-minded woman isreferred to as "a muzhik [an equivalent of both English peasant and man] in askirt." Both in English and Russian a woman capable of changing her behavior to accommodate others' needs is seen as "caring," whereas a mandoing the same thing is a "wimp."

How can the gender inequality that is portrayed so graphically in theRussian texts be explained? Why do the books published in post-Soviet"democratic" times sound not less, but rather more sexist than those published in the 1980s? Russian women's lives have never been easy. "Duringsocialist rule more than 90% of women were in paid employment, which wasthe largest percentage in the world" (Zdravomyslova, 1996, p. 33). The highlevel of Soviet women's involvement in the workforce was due to chroniclabor shortages caused by destructive wars and purges as well as lowproductivity and relative technological backwardness in all spheres of theeconomy. In the Soviet Union, women were in fact "workhorses": on the onehand they had to be "productive members of society" by participating extensively in paid labor; on the other hand, they were under strong pressure to beattractive to men, marry in their late teens to early 20s, have children, and dothe lion's share of household chores under conditions of continual shortages.

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After the start of the drastic economic reforms, many women found themselves out of paid work; Russian unemployment acquired "a woman's face"(Sperling, 1999, p. 146). In 1994, about when many of the researched textbooks were published, "68 percent of the registered unemployed werewomen. Also, women found themselves disproportionally unemployedamong the educated strata, making up 78.2 percent of the unemployed witha higher education in 1993" (p. 150). Then Labor Minister G. Melikian said,"There is no point in creating jobs for women, when there aren't enough jobsfor men" (p. 74). It would not be an overstatement to say that Russiandemocratization and economic liberalization has been at the expense of thevulnerable in society: elderly people, disabled people, children, and women.Gender-selective unemployment is but one link in the chain of systemicinjustice against Russian women. Virtually nonpunishable sexual harassment at work (Sperling, 1999), exploitation of female nudity in the media(Vinogradova, 1999), rape and domestic violence considered "a family affair" and therefore neglected by the police (Attwood, 1997), and a horrificspread of diseases have become commonplace. For example, the number ofregistered tuberculosis cases among women rose from virtually zero in 1990to 25,800 in 1994, and registered syphilis cases from 8,700 in 1985 to 79,600 in1994 (Zhenschiny Rossii, 1995). Women's economic dependence on men hasgiven birth to new social phenomena. Some women are not allowed to workby their nouveau riche husbands "because of prestige considerations"(Zdravomyslova, 1996, p. 42). Others are actively pursuing marriage to foreigners through numerous Russian brides' Web sites and agencies just to getout of the country. Yet others are looking for sponsory (sponsors, a newlycoined term), the new rich able and willing to provide for kept women. Theslogans "Beauty not brains," "Girls should be girls," "The better half of thehumanity," "Guardians of the family hearth" (Kay, 1997) are voiced not onlyby the government and men, but also by many women; however, it isdifficult to assess to what extent this "enthusiasm" has been imposed onthem by the overwhelming circumstances. Today Western-type feminism isas alien to most Russians of both sexes as it was 20 years ago. With sexistattitudes seen as innate, gender inequality remains a powerful component ofRussian culture. Russian-published English reference books reflect and reinforce the realities of the society and the time. As Renner (1997) notes, "it is aknown fact that one of the tools used to maintain and support oppression isschool textbooks" (p. 1).

Images of the United StatesImages of English-speaking countries occupy a modest place among culturalimages presented by Russian-published reference books. It is noteworthythat a great deal of attention is given to reflections of the US. In the books thatI studied, Great Britain seems to arouse much less interest, and countries like


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Canada, New Zealand, and Australia are not mentioned at all. Obviously, inmany foreign language teachers' and students' eyes, North American cultureappears to be solely that of the US. I remember that while living in Russia, Iwas always puzzled by the presence of Canada on the map of North Americabecause, with little information available at the time, Canada seemed to benothing more but the 51st state of the United States of America.

In Russian-published textbooks, the images of America are the source ofgreat controversy: they range from horrible to admirable, with many intermediate variations. To some authors the US seems, first of all, the land ofaffluence, impressive achievements in the field of technology, and worldrenowned landmarks: "The Rockefellers are a family of great wealth"(Shakh-Nazarova, 1996, p. 354); "The tallest buildings here are small incomparison with those of New York" (Dubrovin, 1997, p. 252).

Often, however, Russian texts, although published in post-Soviet times,reveal a strong feeling of rivalry described with the help of ideologicallyrelated vocabulary. The authors widely exploit the topic of racism in the US:"Poverty is awful in Harlem" (Shakh-Nazarova, 1996, p. 354), "The housingin Harlem is in dreadful state" (p. 352), "Most of buildings in Harlem lookdreadful" (p. 352), "As a result of racial discrimination millions of blacks areunemployed in the USA" (p. 354), and "Negroes in America are often arrested only because they fight for their rights" (Bonk et aI., 1994, p. 32). Thelives of African-Americans are described as invariably hard and unjust.Interesting is the use of the word Negroes instead of the now common AfricanAmericans; Russian authors appear to be unaware of its pejorative meaning.Apart from the racial problems, Russian textbooks, although publishedduring and after Perestroika, are also concerned with other imperfections ofAmerican life: "With agricultural surpluses in the USA rapidly increasingand exports declining, the agricultural situation in that country is becomingextremely tense" (Kachalova & Izrailevich, 1995, p. 299), and "The electionpledges were not fulfilled. The American voter is accustomed to it" (Arbekova, 1990, p. 123). A fact like "The American Socialist Party betrayed theinterests of the working people" (Shakh-Nazarova, 1996, p. 330) is also foundworthy of the students' attention. Russian texts always stress the fact thatsome people in the US are politically progressive. For example, "Dreiser, thefamous American writer, joined the Communist Party at the age of 74" (Bonket aI., 1994b, p. 490), or "Very early London realized that the American socialorder was unjust" (Shakh-Nazarova, 1996, p. 331). Jack London, although notas popular with his fellow Americans, is considered "one of the greatest" inRussia. He is seen as the exposer of the social sores of capitalism, so Russiantexts are scattered with such utterances as "In 'Martin Eden' London described the awful living conditions of American workers" or "In three of hisbooks London made an attempt to describe the class struggle in the USA" (p.330).

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Interesting is this pair of sentences imbued with some nostalgia for timesgone by: "Admission to high public school is automatic in the USA. Admission to secondary school is open to everyone in the Soviet Union" (ShakhNazarova, 1996, p. 388). The variation in the choice of words is minimal, butthe impression the sentences produce is quite different. "Automatic admission" is felt to be mechanistic and antihuman, whereas"open to everyone"seems to be democratic and fair.

Numerous value-laden words (Negroes, class struggle, social order, dreadful,unjust, awful, poverty, racial discrimination) are used in descriptions of the US.The reason for this ideologically biased approach is not easy to determine.Now that the overwhelming majority of Russians have no political illusions,and real America with its good and bad sides is quite often visited by many,phrases accusing the US of all conceivable sins sound at least old-fashioned.Can their presence in textbooks be explained by the authors' lack of desire tobe more modem? Or is it some other kind of frustration masked by thehabitual accusations of the regular opponent? The absence of sentencesdescribing the everyday life of common people in the US speaks for the factthat the authors of Russian-published textbooks are probably not well acquainted with real-not smeared by obsolete ideological stereotypesAmerican culture. The difficulty Russian authors experience about Americanculture may be partly explained by the several "catastrophe[s] that befell theRussian hyperethnos" (Feher, 1996, p. 59). The dissolution of the RussianEmpire, the October Revolution, the Civil War, Stalin's terror, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and the ensuing political and economic chaos arebut some of the events that made it difficult for the Russians to create adefinite reference point or a clear "what-is-good/what-is-bad" criterion inrelation to other cultures. Therefore, clinging to outdated stereotypes may beone of the techniques for dealing with the "beloved enemy"-the US. Nomatter what the reason, such an antiquated approach to the reference books'content is hardly of help to the users of these texts.

Images ofGreat BritainIn Russian-published textbooks of English, reflections of Great Britain aremuch more rare than those of the USA; however, its representations are alsooften stereotypical. Thus the British are seen as tireless consumers of tea andtraditional English breakfasts: "We'll have a real English breakfast today:eggs and bacon, toast with marmalade, and tea" (Dubrovin, 1997, p. 73).Englishmen are also shown as admirers of dogs and national sports: "TheEnglish like playing cricket" (p. 9), and "Dogs are Britain's national obsession" (Arbekova, 1990, p. 83). Aside from reviving virtually "textbook"stereotypes about the British, Russian authors also engage in old-fashionedpolitical games. Such statements as "England has an unfavorable balance oftrade. The value of her imports is much greater than the value of her exports"


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(Kachalova & Izrailevich, 1995, p. 23), and "He says that he read inyesterday's newspaper that in England prices of foodstuffs were risingagain" (p. 188) both present British economy as facing grave problems.

As in the case of the descriptions of the US, the sentences about GreatBritain used as examples in Russian-published reference books fail to presentthe real image of the British people. The expressed opinions about British life,irrespective of the time of the texts' publication, are shaped by thestereotypes inherent in the authors' own culture. Totally ignored is the factthat the Great Britain of today is a multicultural and multiethnic societywhere lifestyles and values are far removed from the 19th-century imagepresented in the Russian textbooks; consequently, Russian authors do notdistinguish between English and British identities. The diversity of socialdevelopments that took place in Britain after World War II, including theradical shift in class and gender relationships, the rise of new attitudestoward family, materialism, and religion, and the irreversible transformationof the role that Britain now plays in the international arena (Marwick, 1996)are all neglected by the writers of Russian-published reference books ofEnglish examined in this study. Instead, the authors remain under the spellof two traditions: obsolete anti-capitalist rhetoric and "the lingering miasmaof Victorianism" (p. 395).

ImplicationsThe purpose for this study was far from giving "modern recommendations"to non-English speaking authors on how to write textbooks for students intheir countries; it is intended for Canadian teachers to help them understandtheir students.

The number of newcomers to Canada in the year 2001 is projected toreach 250,000, "the highest total since the aftermath of the Hungarian revolution in 1956" (Vienneau, 2001, p. A6). Most of these people will come to adultESL classes, and many will rely a great deal on the textbooks brought fromtheir native countries. For a teacher working in a multicultural setting, knowing where his or her students come from, what their cultural backgroundsare, and what values are traditionally important for them is of primaryimportance. Sometimes students' reactions to particular situations in and outof class, their response to certain forms of classwork and unfamiliar formatsof teachers', and other students' behaviors determine the success of studentteacher and student-student interaction. Learners from various cultures mayhave different expectations of the topics to be studied. Newcomers to Canadamay perceive teaching-learning styles engaged in by other people in theclassroom as well as others' opinions, evaluations, and approaches to beagreeable or outrageous. Misunderstandings and cultural clashes on the onehand, and lucky coincidences on the other, can eventually enhance or impede the students' overall progress. As Knapp (1995) states, "In classrooms

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where teachers actively or proactively engineer constructive responses tostudent differences, students may have a better chance of success in bothbasic and higher-order skills" (p. 14).

I hope that my study and its findings will be of interest to those Canadianeducators who may experience difficulties while teaching various subjects,including ESL, in the multicultural setting. ESL teachers are often the firstpedagogues whom students from many countries face shortly after theirarrival in a new country. Willingly or unwillingly, the students see theirteachers as representatives of a culture that may seem not only unusual, butalso alien or even hostile. Many of the Russian students come to ESL classesfrustrated: some by an unsuccessful job search, others by difficulties theyencounter in having their qualifications recognized in Canada, yet others bythe separation from their families or cultural and language conflicts withtheir children. In class, the students may express their frustration by disrupting the activities suggested by the teacher, confronting other learners,ridiculing the "stupid" content of the studied material, or openly disapproving of their teacher's manners, behavior, or even dress. Consequently, on apersonal level, the teachers may develop animosity toward such students.These feelings are unproductive and can be avoided if educators areprepared to understand the nature of the problem students' negativism.

Although discussing teachers' awareness of students' cultural differencesand democracy in the classroom is not new, it is always relevant. Realunderstanding of cultural differences and appropriate and timely handlingof the problems they bring can be fostered among teachers only by theconsistent spread of the ideas of cultural relativism, no matter how out ofplace, funny, or even shocking some of the values and views inherent innon-North American cultures may seem in the Canadian context. If teachersfollow the principles of cultural mediation in their instruction, they will helptheir students to succeed in the classroom and in society at large.

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank Tracey Derwing for her valuable comments and continual support duringall phases of this study.

The AuthorDina Chipouline (MEd, University of Alberta) is an ESL instructor at Grant MacEwan College(Edmonton). She also taught various English courses at a pedagogical university in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

ReferencesArbekova, T.!. (1990). Correct English for everyday use. Moscow: Vischaia Shkola.Attwood, L. (1997). "She was asking for it": Rape and domestic violence against women. In M.

Buckley (Ed.), Post-Soviet women: From the Baltic to Central Asia (pp. 99-118). Cambridge,UK: Cambridge University Press.

Baker, P. (2001, July 3). Vodka seen as part of Russia's soul. Edmonton Journal, p. A4.


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Blackwill, RD. (1995). Russia and the West. In F.R Blackwill, R Braithwaite, & A Tanaka(Eds.), Engaging Russia. A report to the Trilateral Commission (pp. 3-63). New York, Paris, andTokyo: Trilateral Commission.

Bonk N.A, Kotii G.A, & Loukianova N.A (1994a). Uchebnik angliiskogo yazika. Tashkent:Pravda Vostoka.

Bonk N.A., Kotii G.A, & Loukianova N.A (1994b). Uchebnik angliiskogo yazika. Tashkent:Pravda Vostoka.

Carroll, 1. (1972). Through the looking glass and what Alice found there. London: MacGibbon &Kee.

Cushner K., McClelland A, & Safford P. (1992). Human diversity in education. New York:McGraw-Hill.

Dubrovin, M. (1997). The Russian-English dictionary ofeveryday phrases. Moscow: Tsitadel.Feher, F. (1996). Biopolitics on the ruins of Communism. In A Heller & S. Puntscher Riekmann

(Eds.), Biopolitics. The politics ofthe body, race and nature (pp. 57-69). Aldershot, UK;Brookfield, USA: Avebury.

Kachalova KN., & Izrailevich E.E. (1995). Prakticheskaia grammatika angliiskogo yazika [Englishgrammar]. Moscow: UNIVES.

Kay, R (1997). Images of an ideal woman: perceptions of Russian womanhood through themedia, education and women's own eyes. In M. Buckley (Ed.), Post-Soviet women: From theBaltic to Central Asia (pp. 77-98). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Knapp, M.5. (1995). Teachingfor meaning in high-poverty classrooms. New York: Teachers CollegePress.

Marwick, A. (1996). British society since 1945. London: Penguin.Novitskaia, T.M., & Kouchin, N.D. (1983). Prakticheskaia grammatika angliiskogo yazika. Moscow:

Vischaia Shkola.Paramonov, B.M. (1996). Historical culture. In ON. Shalin (Ed.), Russian culture at the

crossroads (pp. 11-39). Boulder, CO: WestviewPress, a Division of Harpercollins.Petrova AV. (1996). Samouchitel angliiskogo yazika. Kharkov, Ukraine: West.Pitcher, H.J. (1964). Understanding the Russians. London: Allen & Unwin.Powell, G. (1997). Diversity and educational technology: Introduction to special issues.

Educational Technology, 37(2), 6-14.Renner, C.E. (1997). Women are "Busy, tall, and beautiful": Looking at sexism in EFL materials.

Paper presented at XXI Seminario nazionale di studio e formazione, TESOL-Italy, Mindthe Language, Rome, Italy and at the Thirty-First Annual Convention TESOL, Inc.,Orlando, FL.

Shakh-Nazarova, V.5. (1995). Uchimsia govorit po-angliiski. Moscow: Svetoton.Shakh-Nazarova, V.5. (1996). Prakticheskii kurs angliiskogo yazika, Ameriknaskii variant. Moscow:

Veche.Sperling, V. (1999). Organizing women in contemporary Russia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge

University Press.Vienneau, D. (2001, September 6). Influx of immigrants hits highest level since 1957. Edmonton

Journal, p. A6.Vinogradova, N. (1999). Gde krepkie tougie groudi? gde schek atlas? gde goub bal'sam?

Gendernye Issledovania, 3, 324-327.Zdravomyslova, E. (1996). Problems of becoming a housewife. In A Rotkirch & E.

Haavio-Mannila (Eds.), Women's voices in Russia today (pp. 33-48). Aldershot, UK;Brookfield, USA: Dartmouth.

Zhenschiny Rossii. (1995). Moscow: Gosudarstvennyi Komitet Rossiiskoi Federatsii po Statistike.

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AppendixRussian-Published Reference Books ExaminedArbekova, T.!. (1990). Correct English for everyday use. Moscow: Vischaia Shkola.Bonk N.A, Kotii G.A, & Loukianova N.A (1994a). Uchebnik angliiskogo yazika. Tashkent:

Pravda Vostoka.Bonk N.A, Kotii GA., & Loukianova N.A (1994b). Uchebnik angliiskogo yazika. Tashkent:

Pravda Vostoka.Dubrovin, M. (1997). The Russian-English dictionary ofeveryday phrases. Moscow: Tsitadel.Kachalova K.N., & Izrailevich E.E. (1995). Prakticheskaia grammatika angliiskogo yazika [English

grammar]. Moscow: UNIVES.Novitskaia, T.M., & Kouchin, N.D. (1983). Prakticheskaia grammatika angliiskogo yazika. Moscow:

Vischaia Shkola.Petrova AV. (1996). Samouchitel angliiskogo yazika. Kharkov, Ukraine: West.Shakh-Nazarova, V.s. (1995). Uchimsia govorit po-angliiski. Moscow: Svetoton.Shakh-Nazarova, V.S. (1996). Prakticheskii kurs angliiskogo yazika, Ameriknaskii variant. Moscow:

Veche.


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Through the Looking Glass: What ESL Teachers Can Find in - Eric